10 Essentials: Lupe Fiasco

Lupe Fiasco is back in the studio, working on one of the most anticipated hip-hop albums of the year, "Food & Liquor 2: Great American Rap Album." And Lu is back to his old ways: dope rhymes, thoughtful hooks, and promoting kosher beef. The Chicago MC checked in with us to give us the ten things he needs, from clean drawers to something a little more, well, complex: a sense of possibility.

Photo: Sean Hotchkiss

1. The 1965 Shelby Daytona Coupe

"Classic. American. Racing. History. Legend. It's one of those iconic pieces. I always loved car racing, so to be able to have one of those iconic American cars, it's dope. The Shelby comes from the world of racing. It's one of the ultimate cars. It's one of those things that you get and you keep forever until they take your license from you."

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2. OTW Vans

"Oh yeah, I'm literally walking through my house now looking down and there are maybe, like, 15 pairs on the floor. For real. Real talk. It's just simplicity. They're something I wear every day. Before I got a deal with them, I was wearing some type of Vans all the time. I would just order them by the box, like, 10 at a time. I'd wear them, go through the whole box, and then order another box. Vans reached out to us and were like, "Hey, man. Why don't you come in and work with us for real." I told them, I said, "Listen, even if I wasn't signed to you guys, even if I didn't have a relationship with you guys, I would still wear these shoes." It's just something that fits simple and easy. I don't mind jumping in a mud puddle or jumping on stage in them."

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3. United Airlines

"It's the same way you have preferences about anything else, you gain preferences as to how you want to travel and move around. To me, the other airlines just kind of pale in comparison. There are certain airlines that me and my entourage, or even when I travel on my own, refuse to fly. United airlines is simple, it's easy, it's relatively inexpensive. I have so many miles and I've been flying for so long that every time I fly, it's first class. It's one of those things that, if I needed to jump on a plane, and fly to Spain tomorrow, I know I could get it done. Just like that."

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4. Hebrew National Kosher Hot Dogs

"I love hot dogs. Most hot dogs are pork. Hebrew National answers to a higher authority, better packaging. It's one of those things that, coming from Chicago, it's one of our staples. And it's kind of like, hey, I love hot dogs and I like my hot dogs not to have pork in them. Hebrew National serves those purposes. They're good."

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5. Reggae

"Reggae, oh man. It's the ultimate music. The positivity. The musicality. The whole cultural expressionism of it. The dancibility. Just the cool factor. The melody factor. Some of it comes from a religious place. If there were a competition of who makes the best religious music, it would definitely be the Rastafarian reggae."

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6. Dita Glasses

"I remember one of my first videos was "I Gotcha," with Pharell, and one of my homies, Woody, had on a pair of Ditas. I was like, ‘Y'all I need some sunglasses for the video.' I was always one of those dudes who shied away from sunglasses. So I put them on and they were fresh. It just so happened that my friends in Tokyo took what I was wearing in that video and made a t-shirt out of it, so there's this iconic Lupe Fiasco cartoon character who's rocking Dita sunglasses and a hoodie."

Photo: Courtesy Photo

7. Tokyo

"I could just stay in Tokyo. I think that's because I'm a slight Japanophile, a slight otaku kind of kid. I love manga. I love Japanese animation. I did martial arts for like 20, almost 30, years of my life. My father was a martial artist, so every time we went to our house, it was like Japanese culture infused with soul food, you know. All these different things, like Bruce Leroy."

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9. Military Speck Camo Pants

"My father used to own army surplus stores. He used to own them before we were born because he comes from the military. He brought that whole military culture to the family. We used to wear full camo suits and flight jackets to school. It wasn't a fashion statement, those were our clothes, you know? Some of my baby pictures or when I was maybe four or five years old, are me in full camo regalia with a beret and an M-16 and in combat boots and what have you. It's just a part of who I am."

Photo: gijoesmilitarysurplus.com

10. That This Isn't It

"It's a little more complex, but it's the idea of knowing that there's something else out there. It's very liberating. You don't feel trapped in any certain way. It comes from me studying different things and different people. Hunter S. Thompson said he would go crazy if he didn't know he could kill himself at any given minute in this world. That's the extreme example: that you feel that trapped, but to know you have an outlet, and that release that gives you some comfort and direction to move in when you're alive. When I used to live in the hood, I lived on Madison street. You could look down the street and the hood was literally fucked up. You had drugs, and prostitutes, and police, and these different things, but you look down the street and you can see the Sears Tower, the skyline of Chicago. And you knew this wasn't it."

Lupe Fiasco is back in the studio, working on one of the most anticipated hip-hop albums of the year, "Food & Liquor 2: Great American Rap Album." And Lu is back to his old ways: dope rhymes, thoughtful hooks, and promoting kosher beef. The Chicago MC checked in with us to give us the ten things he needs, from clean drawers to something a little more, well, complex: a sense of possibility.